Picking Our Way North

Tuesday, September 30, 2014 Road Junkies 0 Comments

A WANDER DOWN UNDER, Chapter 25: 
IN WHICH WE ARE REMINDED HOW NOT TO TRAVEL
      
Day 28:  Nelson to Picton

After a very interesting conversation with our innkeeper Max this morning, we departed from Nelson around 8:30, under cloudless blue skies, still thinking about a Florida couple we had just heard about from Max.  Apparently they were naively operating from an American interstate highway mindset when they did their New Zealand planning, for they decided it was feasible to drive from Queenstown to Nelson in a day.  
As the crow flies, the distance is about 350 miles.  But their rental car had no wings, so they had to travel by road, adding another 160 miles to their one-day journey.  Make no mistake, this drive bore no resemblance to the effortless 500-mile jaunt on the wide, straight, level ribbon of I-95 from Savannah to Miami.

This trip did have one facet in common with the Savannah-Miami route.  You could drive it on a single highway—the two-lane State Highway 6—but that's where the similarities ended.  Getting from Queenstown to Nelson requires traversing a half dozen mountain ranges, winding along hundreds of sharp curves and switchbacks, slithering along serpentine sections of coastal highway with sheer dropoffs and, as often as not, no guardrail as a safety net.  Throw in slow-downs for the many one-lane bridges and single-lane strips of road in the mountains, plus the novelty of left-lane driving, and it's obvious this trip will push past 12 hours.  And it did.

The hapless couple arrived at the hotel in Nelson near midnight, having driven through some of New Zealand's most beautiful scenery in the dark.  And before sunrise this morning, they sped off to Picton to catch a ferry to the North Island.  Having made similar kinds of miscalculations of our own, we felt really bad for them.  They flew halfway around the world to dash from place to place and miss much of what they came here to see.

After retracing our Monday route back to Havelock, the green-lipped mussel capital, we turned onto Queen Charlotte Drive, a 25-mile sinuous route edged with native forests.  The road continued winding lazily up and downhill past endless bays and coves and sounds, and even arms, until it meandered around one last bend into the town of Picton.

Just before we rolled into town we got a look at Waimahara Wharf in Shakespeare Bay, the exit port for some of the millions of logs exported from New Zealand each year.  One-third of New Zealand's timber exports go to China, their second largest trading partner.  
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In Momonangi Bay, we spotted the Spirit of New Zealand, a 150-ft square rigger tall ship built for and used as the focus of a youth development program.  The core program accepts forty trainees, ages 15 to 18, from all over New Zealand.  Split evenly between male and female, the group is set afloat on a ten-day voyage to share the challenge of sailing a square rigger.  From their rigorous adventure, trainees reap confidence and friendships as well as a new set of skills.  And yes, more than a few bragging rights.

Spirit of New Zealand
Once in Picton, we checked into the Harbour View Motel, where our studio room featured a balcony overlooking the recently remodeled town marina.  Like many other tourists who visit Picton, we were there to catch the ferry from New Zealand's South Island to the North.  After a flavorful lunch at Le Cafe, a local bistro in the heart of town, we visited the ferry terminal to talk to the Hertz agent about the rental car process and to see the vessel we'll be riding to Wellington.

Picton port
We had heard that the international car rental companies do not permit their cars to cross from one of New Zealand's islands to the other.  As part of a single rental agreement, you drop off the car you've been driving on one island at the ferry terminal.  At your destination, the rental company has a similar car waiting at the terminal.  We were never able to determine the reasoning behind this rule, but it saved us the $100 ferry fare for the car, so we certainly did not object to the policy.

At the Picton port this afternoon, we spotted Sarah, a petite 30-something vagabond from Britain.  Wearing an 80-liter backpack on her back, a 25-liter one on her chest, and large tote bags on each shoulder, she was hard to miss. And her appearance stoked our curiosity about her travel story.  Surely she must be carrying a tent, sleeping bag and other camping gear with a load that large.  Wrong.

Sarah chuckled when we asked if she were camping, instead blaming her lengthy travel schedule for her excess baggage, which must have weighed 60 pounds or more.  She explained that she is in the final third of a nine-month trip, with three months in Southeast Asia, three in Australia, and three in New Zealand.  We were quite eager to hear about her adventures and why she would carry so much "stuff" around with her, but she had a ferry to catch, and since she laughed in response to Ken's inquiry about her penning a book about her travels, we'll never know.

Picton Town Marina
While I worked on the blog this afternoon, Ken crossed the Coathanger Bridge to Shelley Beach on the opposite side of the marina for a hike on the scenic Harbour View Trail.  Since we must report to the ferry terminal by 7 a.m. tomorrow, we turned in early to rest up for our North Island adventures.

Daily Stats:
  • Started in Nelson, ended in Picton
  • Mileage - 78  (Trip total: 14,986)
  • Weather - 39° to 57°, sunny
  • Overloaded British tourists - 1
  • Frenzied American tourists - 2
  • Gas price - $6.96/gallon
TUESDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER, 2014

Salt of the Earth

Monday, September 29, 2014 Road Junkies 0 Comments

A WANDER DOWN UNDER, Chapter 24: 
IN WHICH WE SEEK TREASURE
      
Day 26:  Kaikoura to Nelson

A cold morning greeted us in Kaikoura as we saw the temperature dip down to 35°.  A fresh coating of snow graced the peaks of the nearby Sewards and collaborated with a brilliant sun to create a stunning backdrop for our continuing drive north on SH-1  (pictured above).   It seemed a bit odd to watch the morning sun rising above the Pacific Ocean, which is on the west coast back home.

About 14 miles north of Kaikoura, we pulled over at the Ohau Point Lookout to spy on the breeding colony of New Zealand fur seals that live there.  Judging by the air temp, the water sloshing into the rocky shoreline at high tide this morning must have been icy.  But these guys have a double fur coat and were not bothered, especially the young ones.  Dozens of the little guys were having a grand old time diving and frolicking in a semi-sheltered rock pool.  When an occasional high wave surged into their play area, it only seemed to jack up the excitement, like kids on a roller coaster.  In the fashion of their human counterparts, the adults lounged in the sun on nearby rocks, occasionally taking time from their napping to observe the antics of their children.

Seal pool at Ohau Point
As the road wound inland and then back to the coast, we entered yet another splendid area of plump verdant hills peppered with thousands of sheep.  A major center of sheep farming, New Zealand has the world's highest sheep population density.  According to a recent report, New Zealand is home to more than 30 million sheep, almost seven times its human population.  Ewe couldn't prove it by us and we're not trying to fleece you or pull the wool over your eyes, but we herd that a farmer near Christchurch rammed his way into the Guniness book with a world record flock numbering 384,143 sheep.  (Please don't lambaste us and forgive the baaaad puns.)

Have you any wool?
Nearing the town of Blenheim, our attention was diverted by signs to the Lake Grassmere Saltworks.  Snowy mountains of salt lured us down a side road to the plant where more than 60,000 tons of salt are harvested annually.  Sea water is pumped into the 1,700-acre lake during the summer when the Marlborough region's long hours of sun and strong winds begin the evaporation process that increases the water's salinity.  As nature does its work, the water is transferred to a series of concentrating ponds for further evaporation.  When the brine reaches saturation point, it goes into crystallization ponds for the final stage of dehydration.

Lake Grassmere Saltworks
At the crossroads in Blenheim, we turned west on SH-6 toward Nelson, our destination for the day.  We had entered yet another New Zealand wine-producing area, this one called the Wairau Valley region, New Zealand's premier and best known, with 130 wineries.  As in the area north of Christchurch yesterday, vineyards lined both side of the highway.  These were industrial-size wineries with multiple massive storage tanks and significant processing plants.

The further we drove into the Marlborough region, the higher the roadside views became as we drove through the Richmond Range.  After miles of pastured hillsides, we stopped for lunch in Havelock, the self-proclaimed 'Green-Lipped Mussel Capital of the World.'  We struggled to decide whether we should eat at the Havelock Cafe, the Havelock Lodge, the Havelock Inn, or one of the other creatively named restaurants, finally settling on one that offered some vegetarian options in addition to all those emerald shell mollusks.

Green-Lipped Mussels
Arriving in Nelson in the early afternoon, we decided to go seek a couple of letterboxes west of the town after checking in at The Sails hotel.  Our search for the first box took us to a park at the end of the narrow, twisting Riwaka Valley Road, where we set out on the Riweka Resurgence Trail.  The path was sheltered by a very dense, very moist rain forest.  Moisture was so thick your exhaled breath could be seen as vapor.  Near a picnic area off the trail, we followed a narrow track into the forest seeking a head-high stump leaning toward the river.  Though we located the stump, no treasure was hiding within or nearby.  Its close proximity to the river may well have been behind its disappearance.Though the letterbox was AWOL, we continued out the trail to a platform overlooking the cave where the Riwaka River bubbles up from its underground journey.
     
Riwaka Resurgence Trail
Our second letterbox target had not been reported as found in more than five years, so we held out little hope of locating it, but it had been planted in the popular beach town of Kaiteriteri (kie-teery-teery), just a few miles away.  With a name that charming, it was a must-see.  Alas, the box was also MIA, but the beach was quite attractive with a caravan village that looked to be at maximum capacity.

Kaiteriteri beach
Though our innkeeper's rapid fire list of recommendations when we checked in included a couple of restaurants that were not seafood-centered, we opted to continue our self-catering habit and picked up dinner supplies at the local New World supermarket on our way back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we have a short drive to the quaint coastal town of Picton, where we'll end our stay on New Zealand's South Island.
Daily Stats:
  • Started in Kaikoura, ended in Nelson
  • Mileage -  254    (Trip total: 14,908)
  • Weather - 35° to 62°, sunny
  • Grains of salt - 452,752,967,021,489,111
  • Missing letterboxes - 2
  • Green-lipped mussels - 18,402
MONDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER, 2014

The morning sun over the Pacific
Ohau Point
Really?  Outside the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in Blenheim
A collection of new Toyotas parked in a pasture near the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre


Our Fate Was Sealed

Sunday, September 28, 2014 Road Junkies 0 Comments

A WANDER DOWN UNDER, Chapter 23: 
IN WHICH TIME SHIFTS, AND WE DO TOO
      
Day 26:  Christchurch to Kaikoura
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As we were sleeping last night, New Zealand implemented Daylight Saving Time and "sprang forward" one hour.  Thus when I awoke this morning and saw 6 a.m. on my watch, I was mistaken in thinking I had two hours to drag around before our agreed upon departure time from Christchurch.  A few minutes later, Ken awoke and looked at his phone.  "Already after 7?" he remarked.  My "extra" hour evaporated and, though we both had plenty of sleep, we were just a little out of step.

By the time we packed up and moved out of our stylish apartment, checked out, and bid farewell to the charming innkeeper Carol, it was 8:45.  We asked the GPS to take us to the coastal town of Kaikoura, and off we went,  Less than a block later, we discovered just how disoriented we were.  When directed to turn right onto Peterborough Street by the GPS, we did, driving in the right lane.  Immediately, both of us sensed that something was amiss, but neither figured out our error until we reached the end of this short block and realized that we had just executed the error of wrong-way driving, something we've struggled to avoid for the past month.  Fortunately for us—and potential victims—there was very little traffic that early on time-change Sunday morning.
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Nevertheless, a jolt of caffeine seemed like a good idea, so we pulled into the drive-thru at a nearby Macca's (New Zealand's nickname for McDonald's) for a large Diet Coke and a free "senior" coffee.  Thus fortified, we drove north on State Highway 1.  Leaving the Christchurch area, the road split into a divided, limited-access freeway, the first we have experienced in New Zealand, but fewer than ten miles later, we were back on the familiar bumpy two-laner with occasional one-lane bridges.

Soon we found ourselves surrounded by manicured rows of grapevines (pictured above), lining both sides of the highway.  We had entered the Waipara Valley wine region, renown as a premium area for its pinot noir, riesling, and chardonnay wines.  With the highest summer temperatures of the New Zealand wine regions, Waipara produces more than 100,000 cases of wine each year.

Past Waipara, we drove through the lush fields and pastures of the Greta River valley and stopped for a break at the cozy Mainline Station Cafe in the modest hamlet of Domett.  Over a cup of tea and a freshly baked parmesan and spinach scone, we chatted with cafe owner John, a veteran of the cruise ship industry.

Having trained under a talented chef in his native Christchurch, John indulged his yen for adventure, securing work in Amsterdam and later Perth, before hiring on with Crystal Cruise lines.  After he had sailed the south seas for a couple of years, fate intervened when the young woman who would become his wife joined the ship's crew.  When the two of them later decided it was time to return to dry land and raise a family, they opted for the relaxed pace of a small town cafe.  During the winter months, they shutter their doors, pack up their two little ones, and feed their adventurous spirits again.

Later in the day, as we approached Kaikoura on the east coast, we entered the Seward Kaikoura Coastal range, winding our way on SH-1, as it skirted the rocky shores wedged between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean.  A cold rain began falling a few miles south of Kaikoura and continued as we checked in at the Aspen Court motel.

After perusing the handy collection of local restaurant menus at the motel, we decided on the Black Rabbit Pizza Company and sloshed back to the cafe on Highway 1, only to find the door locked and adorned with a post-it note indicating "Back in 5."  The awning gave us the time we needed to notice two other signs posted on the Black Rabbit's front window:  'TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence' (for consistently high reviews) and 'Free Wifi.'  
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Before we had time to even consider getting back into the rain to walk away from those tempting offers, a small white hatchback zipped up to the curb nearby, and out jumped a breathless young lady, jamming a key in the door as she thanked us for waiting.  This was Laurel, who owns the shop with her husband Josh, and her pizza, made with fresh, locally sourced ingredients with an aim toward full flavor, was well worth the minor delay.

 By the time we polished off the entire large pizza and caught up on email, news and football scores, the rain had taken a breather, so we drove out Fyffe Quay toward the southeastern tip of the Kaikoura Peninsula to visit some popular town residents. Along the way we paused to check out an isolated chimney along the shore.  This lonely sentinel was once part of the local customs house in the days when Kaikoura was port-dependent with no rail or road connections.

Kaikoura Rocks
Near the chimney was evidence of an earlier history.  Much earlier.  According to geologists, about 180,000 years ago, a rapid seismic uplift raised and twisted layers of limestone and siltstone from the ocean bed to the surface.  Today these vertical versions of the "pancake rocks" we saw on the west coast decorate the shore line of what is now Kaikoura.

As interesting as these intermediate stops were, what we really wanted to see was at the end of the road. In recent years, Kaikoura has become the epicenter of New Zealand's marine life tours, but today's weather had kept the whale and dolphin watching boats in the harbor.  Our only opportunity for a close encounter with a marine mammal was offered by the Fyffe Quay seal colony.  Undaunted by the fog and rain, these New Zealand fur seals were out there performing for their paparazzi.  They yawned and lolled and even posed for the tourists who made the pilgrimage to their rocky shore home.

Long a target for fur harvesters, these seals were brought back from the brink of extinction by protective legislation.  The population has rebounded, and Fyffe Quay hosts one of several thriving colonies in the Kaikoura area.

By the time we pulled ourselves away from these winsome hosts and drove up to the town overlook at the end of Maui Street, the rain was back to stay.  We yielded to a stronger foe and called it a day, returning to the hotel for the night.

Tomorrow we'll continue up the South Island's east coast before turning back west to Nelson on the northern shore.

Daily Stats:
  • Started in Christchurch, ended in Kaikoura
  • Mileage -   130  (Trip total: 14,654)
  • Weather - 41° to 46°, overcast, windy, rainy
  • Grapevines - 34,910
  • New Zealand fur seals - 62
  • Sheep - 7,241
SUNDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER, 2014

Journaling and a lovely cup of tea at the Mainline Station Cafe
Statement hedge in front of a Kaikoura home
Nice view of the town from the Maui Street overlook.

Whose Fault Is It?

Saturday, September 27, 2014 Road Junkies 0 Comments

A WANDER DOWN UNDER, Chapter 22: 
IN WHICH THINGS GET A BIT SHAKY
      
Days 24 & 25:  Christchurch
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In early 2010, Christchurch was known as the Garden City, an urban area that dedicated more than most cities to green space.  Grand old buildings sat amid stately beech and chestnut trees along the city's picturesque streets, and its population had recently surpassed that of Wellington to make it New Zealand's second largest city.   (Worcester Street, Christchurch, in July, 2010 pictured above)

Then on September 4, 2010, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck, its epicenter just 25 miles from Christchurch.  Aftershocks continued for many months, with the most devastating centered very close to the city—a shallow 6.3 quake on February 22, 2011.  Destruction was widespread, and 185 people were killed, more than 11,000 injured.  Survivors continued to be battered, both physically and emotionally, by an unrelenting swarm of aftershocks.  By August, 2012, more than 11,000 aftershocks with a magnitude of 2.0 or greater had been recorded, including 26 over magnitude 5.

Christchurch Cathedral, September, 2014
When the 2011 quake slammed the city, the steeple of the bluestone Chrischurch Cathedral, the physical and symbolic heart of the city toppled, ripping a gaping hole in the narthex.  Many other buildings, some weakened in the previous September's quake and its aftershocks, collapsed into rubble.  As many as 1,000 structures in the central business district were destroyed or undermined.  Before locals could begin to clear the debris, another large aftershock on June 13 wreaked considerably more damage.

Due to instability in the area of greatest destruction, a "red zone" was established after the February 2011 quake, excluding all but emergency personnel from the central city.  As rubble was cleared, the zone shrank in size until the final barriers were removed in June, 2013.  Today large areas of the devastated garden city remain unrenewed.  Hulking shells of critically damaged buildings still await demolition.  Miles and miles of temporary fencing stand between the curious and these unstable structures.  In some instances, shipping crates have been employed in an effort to keep historic facades from crumbling.

Saving this old facade, but for what purpose?
Rebuilding cost estimates surged with each new event.  Like major hurricane disasters in the U.S., devastation at this level far exceeds the power of a local, or even state, government to manage.  By the time of the June, 2011 quake, the amount of damage was equivalent to 20% of New Zealand's annual GDP (compared with Katrina damage equivalent to a paltry 1% of American GDP).  Economists estimate it may take the New Zealand economy 50 to 100 years to recover.  Yet with almost 100 faults and fault segments identified in the Christchurch area, some within 12 miles of the central city, seismologists have predicted that Christchurch has the potential for a major earthquake about every 55 years.

One of many vacant lots in the central city
Upwards of 11,000 residents (about 4%) understandably abandoned the city in the aftermath of this overload of seismic activity.  Yet the population is rebounding, though the recovery process has been overwhelmed by a surfeit of ideas and political jockeying.  The idea of central Christchurch as a "blank canvas" took hold, and no one wanted to bungle the opportunity to create the ideal city.  So precincts were conceived for every purpose—an arts precinct, healthcare precinct, retail precinct, government precinct, and on and on.  None of that typical organic, natural process of city growth would be tolerated.  This was the chance to "fix" everything.

But people needed to get on with their lives.  While those in power in the central city dawdled, construction began in the areas just outside the CBD that weren't affected by the quakes.  Today law firms and other major tenants for downtown office space have signed multiyear leases in these structures, eliminating the opportunity to fill new buildings which still have yet to be built in the central city.

The church's plan to demolish the ruins of the cathedral and rebuild were waylaid when preservationists invoked court interference based on the historic value of the original structure.  In the interim, the congregation employed a Japanese architect who specializes in designing temporary post-earthquake structures.  Created from massive cardboard tubes, timber and steel, the Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral opened its doors in August, 2013 several blocks away from the ruins.  Designed to serve for fifty years, the new structure seats 700 and has become a popular event space as well as a center for worship.

Cardboard Cathedral
Other temporary structures which seemed funky and clever in the months after the disaster continue to dominate the city center.  Re:START Mall, a conglomeration of retail shops, banks and other businesses housed in shipping containers, opened on the city's main pedestrian mall in October, 2011.  They remain at the heart of the retail recovery.

Re:START Mall
Organizations like Gap Filler popped up in the days after the 2011 disaster.  With their stated goal of facilitating the use of vacant sites and buildings in Christchurch, they must have been a breath of fresh air, organizing events and putting up temporary structures with recycled materials like wooden shipping pallets.  Four years later, their efforts to "activate vacant lots with cool and creative projects" while the city still sits in ruins don't seem as relevant, though today their primary funding source is the Christchurch City Council. How long should these transitional efforts remain the focus?

A Christchurch local told us of watching a television documentary recently about the 1995 earthquake that decimated Kobe, Japan, leaving more than 150,000 buildings destroyed and more than 4,000 residents dead.  "After four years, you couldn't even tell there had been an earthquake there," the local marveled.  "And look at us after four years."

It is immediately apparent that Japan, with the world's third largest economy, had infinitely more resources to support the Kobe recovery effort.  But money aside, protracted conflict and mistrust among levels of government seems to have sapped the wind from the Christchurch recovery sails.  Potential foreign investors are losing patience and looking elsewhere.

In twenty years, Christchurch will probably be restored, or reinvented, into a vibrant city again.  But that's another generation away.  How many of those who grow up amid the rubble will remain?

FRIDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER & SATURDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER, 2014

Asbestos removal crews are doing a booming business in the city 
After prolonged insurance settlements, some residences are just now being restored.
A window on Christchurch
Since the Red Zone was eliminated, rolling street closures permit demolition work to continue.
Planted Whare, a city council sponsored project to provide "a hopeful presence" in Cathedral Square
185 Chairs:  Even this memorial to the victims of the 2011 earthquake has an air of impermanence. 

West Assured

Thursday, September 25, 2014 Road Junkies 0 Comments

A WANDER DOWN UNDER, Chapter 21: 
IN WHICH WE CHECK OUT THE LEFT COAST
      
Days 22 & 23:  Greymouth to Christchurch

Sandwiched between the mighty Tasman Sea on one side and the rugged Southern Alps on the other, the South Island's west coast is a place of isolation and open spaces.  Only one percent of New Zealand's population lives on this coast.  Determined to learn more about this daunting area on Wednesday morning, we left our hotel in Greymouth (pop. 9.932), the west coast's largest town, headed south.

A 25-mile drive down the coast on State Highway 6 took us to the town of Hokitika, a quaint little village popular with tourists.  Clearly, Hokitika is a seasonal town.  Many of the shops and restaurants in town were closed at 10:30 on this Wednesday morning in early spring, some bearing signs indicating they would open on the weekend.  No worries, mate.  We were not there to shop; we were looking for a letterbox on the beach.  

When we arrived on the beach, we were astounded by the amount and variety of driftwood littering the sand.  And Hokitika is a town that knows what to do when dealt lemons.  In every brochure or web site used by local promoters in presenting the city to potential visitors, there is a photo of the city name executed in driftwood "font" on the local beach (latest iteration pictured above).  As the "letters" deteriorate, new ones are created.
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Further exploiting its surplus of castaways, Hokitika holds an annual driftwood and sand sculpture festival each summer with everyone from kids to professional artists invited to submit entries, each judged in the appropriate category.  The New Zealand tourism web site offers some examples of creations in this celebration of beach culture.  Some years, as many as 70 sculptures adorn the Hokitika beach.  Today there were no sculptures except the city name, but there was a letterbox and we found it.

After stamping in, we hopped back in the car and drove inland about 20 miles to look for another box at Hokitika Gorge.  With the highest rainfall in New Zealand, the west coast is blessed with lush rain forests.  From the car park, we walked along a trail lined with tree-sized ferns and large podocarps to an overlook offering our first sighting of the granite ravine and the milky, blue-green Hokitika River

Hokitika Gorge
Continuing on the trail another ten minutes led us to the swing bridge over the canyon.  On the other side of the bridge, the trail continued through the dense foliage, opening up to more excellent views of the gorge.  Hidden under the exposed root of a tree along the way, we found our second letter box of the day.  A bonus was included in the letterbox clue, a tip to make this trip a circuit by driving around Lake Kaniere Scenic Preserve.  This took us along a well-maintained gravel road to Dorothy Falls, a 210-ft multi-stage fall definitely worth a bit of a detour.

Dorothy Falls
But the west coast had much more to offer.  Though we are not going as far south as the famous Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers on this trip, we were aiming to see a national park which promised a special kind of rock formation.  So back north we drove to Greymouth, and past it another 30 miles to Punakaiki and the Visitor Centre for Paparoa National Park. Across the street at Dolomite Point, we accessed the brilliantly designed and well-maintained trail to the pancake rocks and blowholes that form the main attraction of this park.

Along the trail, interpretive signs offered handy information about the native plants growing in thick profusion nearby. When we reached the coast, the Pancake Rocks came into view.  These heavily eroded layered limestone stacks were formed over many millions of years by massive pressure exerted on alternating layers of marine creatures and soft sediment.

Pancake Rocks
Ensconced among the stacks are several vertical blowholes where the sea bursts through during high tides.  Since we had arrived in late afternoon, the tide had rolled back out to sea, and all was calm in the erstwhile water vents.  There was nothing to be done but return on Thursday morning.  Our 1:45 train departure to Christchurch left us the full morning to make a comeback to Paparoa.  What a difference a tide makes!  There was no shortage of action upon our return.

Chimney Pot blowhole
Putai
Surge Pool
These rock formations are so extensive and so interesting, we were unable to resist making a comparison with Victoria's Twelve Apostates Apostles on the Great Ocean Road that we saw a couple of weeks ago in Australia.  Let us just say we're glad we saw the Pancake Rocks second.  They would be a very difficult act to follow.  In fact, we planted one of our "Love This Spot" letterboxes on the trail to the rocks.  Thanks to our letterboxing friend Jane, aka Wise Old Owl, the letterboxes in this series now contain beautifully hand-carved stamps, offering the finders the double bonus of visiting a compelling location and seeing a remarkable work of art.

After our return visit to Paparoa National Park, we made it back to Greymouth in plenty of time to have lunch at the quirky DP1 Cafe near the train station.  With a Hertz agent on site at the station, drop-off of the rental car could not have been more convenient.  Having read rave reviews of the TranzAlpine scenic train route, we were eager to begin the journey.  And though there were some impressive panoramic vistas crossing from Greymouth on the west coast to Christchurch on the east coast, much of the railroad paralleled the highway.  So, yes, we had seen most of these views a couple of days before.  Though not new, they were still impressive, and the rail journey was a great break from driving and a relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

Ken listens to the narrative commentary about the scenes we're passing.
Upon our arrival in Christchurch, we caught a taxi to our hotel and were delighted to learn that our gracious host Carol had upgraded us to the beautiful two-bedroom penthouse.  Not only was it luxurious and spacious, it was equipped with a laundry room, a supreme stroke of luck today when we had run out of clean clothes.

For the next couple of days, we will explore Christchurch, a city wracked by devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2011.

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Road Noise

Extra Grip So You Don't Slip:  On tramping tracks in New Zealand (hiking trails, as we call them), almost every time we see a wooden footbridge or boardwalk, some kind of material is stapled to it to provide traction.  In especially moist areas like the Hokitika Gorge and Paparoa National Park, the wood is drenched more often than not, so this antidote to slipperiness prevents many falls.

Chicken wire for extra grip
All Hands on Deck:  About the size of Illinois, the South Island of New Zealand is home to only one million people.  Due to this low density of both population and traffic, the island still has many single lane bridges.  A few are road-rail bridges on which cars and trains share the same bridge deck, giving an entirely new meaning to sharing the road.

Taramakau River road-rail bridge near Hokitika
Camping It Up:  In both Australia and New Zealand, we have seen a steady stream of rented camper vans on the highways.  They vary wildly from the bohemian Wicked Camper minivans with their spray painted pop designs and sometimes controversial slogans to more mainstream truck-style campers with custom coaches.  Today we talked with Aussie mother and daughter campers that we met at Hokitika Gorge.  They're traveling about three weeks in their conventional camper van and have found it comfortable and convenient.  Maybe an idea worth considering...

Camper van at Paparoa National Park

Two-Day Stats:
  • Started in Greymouth, ended in Christchurch
  • Two-day mileage - 371   (Trip total: 14,460)
  • Weather - 47° to 58°, sunny to partly cloudy
  • One-lane bridges - 45
  • Rock formations at Paparoa NP - 115
  • Visitors at Paparoa - 23 
  • Passengers on train - 60
  • Beef cattle - 1,369
  • Gorse plants - 176,399
  • Mountains - 79
WEDNESDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER & THURSDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER, 2014

Hokitika Gorge trail
Dolomite Point at Paparoa National Park 
More pancakes


Over the Mountains into the Woods

Tuesday, September 23, 2014 Road Junkies 0 Comments

A WANDER DOWN UNDER, Chapter 20: 
IN WHICH WE GO CROSS COUNTRY
      
Day 21:  Ashburton to Greymouth

After fueling up in Ashburton, a dozen miles from the east coast, we left around 9 a.m. headed west, back across the Southern Alps.  Today we would follow Route 73 through the legendary Arthur's Pass.  This time we knew what to expect.  These are not the Rocky Mountains of the American west.  Arthur's Pass has an elevation of 3,000 feet, so we had no fear of snow or ice on the roadway today.
    

Leaving Ashburton on Route 77, we pushed north through Methven and Windwhistle (you know we couldn't make that up) to Darfield, where we picked up Route 73, the Great Alpine Highway, which would take us all the way to the west coast.  Like yesterday, we saw thousands of gorse plants (pictured above), very noticeable at this time of year because of their brilliant yellow blooms.  Introduced as ornamental hedges by Europeans in the very early settlement stages of New Zealand, the plant spread rapidly in the country's temperate climate.  Today it is considered a major invasive species due to its aggressive seed dispersal.  Millions of dollars have been spent trying to control it. Unfortunately, the very methods most useful in removing the noxious weed are also effective at spreading its seed.

The Great Alpine Highway bisects Arthur's Pass National Park, which is centered on the mountain pass and the village of the same name.  Because it provides easy access to some treacherous mountain terrain, the park has developed an unfortunate and perhaps undeserved reputation as one of the most dangerous national parks in New Zealand. 
     
Rather than having a day's trek to ease into the mountains like other areas, the close proximity of extreme trails from the village has lured hikers in over their heads and has led to the deaths of adventurers who lacked the equipment and skill level for the terrain or found themselves trapped by rapidly changing weather.  As we passed through the village, we saw signs advertising free use of locator beacons for hikers.

Otira Viaduct
Driving through the pass was not particularly scenic, but on the western side, the engineering marvel of the Otira Viaduct was another story.  Completed in 1999, this four-span bridge carries traffic away from the rockslide-prone mountainside through the Otira River valley.  At just over a quarter-mile long, the viaduct sits on piers 131 feet above the valley floor.  A photo on the web site of Numa Hammers, which provided equipment for setting the piers, shows the road as it was before this modern improvement.

Frequently closed by avalanches and rockslides, the old road before the viaduct. 
More engineering prowess just beyond the viaduct has further enhanced safety near the pass.  An aqueduct was installed to redirect the water from Reid Falls over the highway rather than onto it, followed by a rockslide shelter with a sloped roof that deflects landslides to the valley below.

Reid Falls takes a new course
Five miles past Otira we stopped to check out the Morrison Footbridge across the Otira River.  This bridge marks the beginning of a 15-mile mountain run course that is part of New Zealand's Coast-to-Coast race.  Top athletes complete the section in about three hours.  Most hikers take two days.

Morrison Footbridge
On the east side of the pass, most of the terrain had little vegetation other than short grasses and tussocky clumps.  Once we descended to the western side, we began to see thick forests, growing more lush as we neared the west coast.   By the time we reached our destination of Greymouth on the west coast, we were in a full-blown rain forest with tree-sized ferns and tangled undergrowth beneath looming palms and cabbage trees.  Tomorrow we plan to explore some spots north and south of Greymouth in search of some of New Zealand's coastal beauty. 

Daily Stats:
  • Started in Ashburton, NZ ended in Greymouth, NZ
  • Mileage -  175    (Trip total: 14,089)
  • Weather - 40° to 54°, partly cloudy, light rain, occasional sun
  • Sheep - 14,167
  • Camper vans - 112
  • Curve signs - 93
  • Possum roadkill - 14
TUESDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER, 2014
     
View from Konai bridge near Springfield
Mt White bridge over Waimakariri River near Bealy
Mount Rolleston (?)
You gotta love driving down a road with views like this.
Another remarkable view through the windshield